A bell-ringing festival is still a rare phenomenon in Ukraine. We had only a few such events held in Lutsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, while our Russian neighbors have six annual festivals organized by Vladimir Pokrovsky alone, not counting other organizers. Three years ago, Pokrovsky came to Poltava region to help with installing bells at churches in Dykanka and Velyki Budyshcha. After visiting the region, it occurred to Pokrovsky to hold a bell-ringing festival in Ukraine. Thus, 2013 was the third consecutive year that Dykanka saw best bell-ringers from Ukraine, Belarus, Russia, and Moldova to come there in late August to display their skills. “Chime is the bell-ringer’s prayer,” Pokrovsky says. “A bell is a consecrated, working church object and, as any part of church furnishings, it cannot help but affect humans. I always said, however, ‘Do not use the bell as a pill.’ To be cured by its chime, you must love God and believe in Him. Then, as they say, ‘As you have believed, so let it be done for you.’” Pokrovsky tells the following about himself: “I am a musician by trade who worked for Arkhangelsk Travel and Tours Bureau, guiding tours in places where there were bells. They offered me to work with bells, and it has been my job for 29 years. I ‘have given the voice back’ to a hundred and a half churches by fixing and tuning their bells.”
The bell-ringing festival gathered a few dozen top bell ringers from the CIS countries. It was a real pleasure to listen to each of them and watch them work.
